1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to system technology for supplying a control program to a controller for controlling a semiconductor manufacturing system via a communications circuit, particularly to such a system that enables the control program to be installed without interfering with the operation of the semiconductor manufacturing system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Semiconductor manufacturing systems are used to manufacture silicon substrates for semiconductor devices, glass substrates for LCDs (liquid crystal displays) and the like. In a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) system, for example, a silicon wafer substrate is placed in a heating furnace and a thin film, such as an oxide film or a nitride film, is formed on the substrate by supplying reaction gas into the heating furnace as the interior of the heating furnace is heated to a prescribed temperature.
Semiconductor manufacturing systems include batch systems that process a large number of substrates at one time and sheet-fed systems that process a single substrate or a number of substrates sequentially. FIGS. 6(a) and (b) show an example of a batch semiconductor manufacturing system as viewed from the side, and FIG. 7 shows an example of a sheet-fed semiconductor manufacturing system viewed from above.
The semiconductor manufacturing system shown in FIGS. 6(a) and (b) comprise a vertical reaction furnace composed of a vertically oriented furnace 2 heated by a heater 1. A boat 4 charged with a large number of substrates 3 is elevated into the furnace 2 and the substrates 3 are batch-processed. Specifically, the boat 4 charged with numerous substrates 3 is raised by an elevator 5, as shown at FIG. 6(a) in the drawing, so as to be accommodated and sealed in the furnace 2, as shown at FIG. 6(b). The interior of the furnace 2 is then heated to a prescribed temperature by the heater and supplied with reaction gas (not shown) to form a prescribed thin film on each of the substrates 3. The furnace temperature is then brought down and, as shown at FIG. 6(a), the elevator 5 is lowered to draw the boat 4 out of the furnace 2 and thus remove the substrates 3 formed with films.
After withdrawal of the boat 4, the temperature inside the furnace is generally maintained relatively high so that it can be rapidly raised to the prescribed reaction temperature when the next batch is processed.
The semiconductor manufacturing system shown in FIG. 7 has a polygonal main chamber 10, a robot arm 11 located inside the main chamber 10, and a number of sub-chambers 12a-12f arranged on substantially the same horizontal plane and each connected with one side of the main chamber 10. The robot arm 11 sequentially transfers substrates 13 to the sub-chambers 12a-12f for processing. The sub-chamber 12a serves as the station for feeding the substrates 13 in and out, and the other sub-chambers 12b-12f form preheating and reaction chambers. A substrate 13 introduced through the sub-chamber 12a is transferred by the robot arm 11, has a thin film formed on it in a reaction chamber, and the finished substrate 13 is transferred by the robot arm 11 and fed out of the sub-chamber 12a. 
Each of the sub-chambers 12a-12f is equipped with a shutter 14 for air-tight sealing.
The manufacturer of such a semiconductor manufacturing system installs it for operation at a customer's semiconductor production plant. As shown in FIG. 8, a number of semiconductor manufacturing systems (#1-#n) are installed at the plant and the operation of each system is controlled by controllers. In the illustrated example, each semiconductor manufacturing system is equipped with a temperature controller 21 for controlling heating temperatures such as the temperature of the reaction chambers, a mechanism controller 22 for controlling operation of the elevator, robot arm and other mechanical sections, a pressure controller 23 for controlling pressures such as the reaction pressure of the reaction chambers, and a gas controller 24 for controlling the flow of gas supplied to the reaction chambers and the like. A main controller 25 is provided for centralized control of the controllers 21-24 via a LAN or other communications circuit 26. In addition, a block controller 27 is provided for centralized control of the main controllers 25 of the semiconductor manufacturing systems at the plant via a LAN or other communications circuit 28.
The controllers 21-24, 25 and 27 are constituted as computers that execute prescribed control and processing by executing appropriate control programs using a processor, memory and other hardware resources.
These programs are, for example, stored in hard disk memories of the controllers. Otherwise the controllers are equipped with ROMs in which the programs are stored in advance.
As it is occasionally necessary to upgrade a controller or rid its control program of a bug, the control program loaded in the controller has to be modified from time to time. This need arises relatively frequently when a new plant is ramped up.
Up to now in such cases, a technician from the semiconductor manufacturing system manufacturer has had to visit the customer's plant to install a new control program in the controller concerned or replace its ROM.
This is disadvantageous first because it is a labor-intensive and time-consuming method that involves considerable cost and second because it requires the semiconductor manufacturing system to be temporarily shut down, with the risk of lowering the system capacity utilization.
This invention was accomplished in light of the foregoing circumstances and has as an object to provide a system that enables installation of a control program in a semiconductor manufacturing system by transmission over a communications circuit without interfering with the operation of the semiconductor manufacturing system.
Other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following explanation.
Unexamined Japanese patent application JP-A-10-301799 teaches a system for testing systems that sends a diagnostic program from a host computer to a system to be diagnosed at times when the probability of a malfunction occurring is considered highest based on a frequency function of malfunction occurrence.
Unexamined Japanese patent application JP-A-11-95811 teaches a system that at the time of replacing a controller uses a maintenance facility to check whether the controller is operational and, if not, operates it by sending application data and constant data.
These prior art technologies share a common element with the present invention only in the point that they also deliver programs and/or data to a remote location. However, they are directed to preventing trouble from occurring in the operation of a semiconductor system and, as such, differ totally from the present invention in the problem to be solved and the means for solving the problem.